Unto Thee I cry,
Light of the world! Star of the cloudless day!
Before me mists like mountains veil the sky:
Chase Thou the gloom away.
On my pathway shine.
Turn into glorious day the face of night;
That I may trace Thy footprints, Lord Divine,
O say, “Let there be light.”
If one step I take
Onward amid the gloom I cannot tell
Where I may wander—O, for Thy name’s sake,
Guard me from angels fell.
On my wakeful ear
Discordant sounds of conflict darkly break;
My feeble heart within me melts with fear—
For my salvation wake.
I have none but Thee
To turn to in my spirit’s dire distress;
Poor, frail, and faint I am, O guide Thou me
In paths of righteousness.
For infernal powers
Would drive me far from life’s unsullied way,
To paths rebellious where destruction towers,
And starless night holds sway.
At the fearsome noise
And bruit of battle melts my trembling soul:
O let me bear Thy spirit-stirring voice
Where fiery chariots roll.
If I feel Thy hand
About me in the battle I am strong;
By Thy side surely sheltered I shall stand
Amid the struggling throng.
Thou hast gone before.
Thou callest me, Thy well-known voice I hear.
Where wild wolves raven and where lions roar,
O let me feel Thee near.
In the battlefield,
And in the forefront of the fiercest fight,
Thy favour shall my shelter be and shield,
My glory and my might.
Thou hast died for me,
Thou wilt not leave me, Thou wilt not forsake
Thy blood-redeemed, bearing reproach for Thee,
Abhorred for Thy name’s sake.
Guard me night and day
From human wisdom, from the fleshly mind,
From confidence in self; the perfect way
Give me, O Lord, to find.
Till my feet shall stand
Within the palaces of peace and love,
The courts of heaven, that empyrean land,
God’s dwelling-place above;
And till all is o’er.
The journey, and the desert, and the fight;
Discord, and danger, and for evermore
I walk with Thee in white.